Familiar elements but with some largely solid execution and worldbuilding.
What They Say:
When you’re killed in one reality and wake up as a sentient sword in a world where magic is real, what else can you do with your steely new existence except become an adventurer? Even though his shiny new form can levitate itself around, our slicing implement without a name also craves a wielder: a mighty warrior with whom to partner, explore and slay monsters.
Instead, he gets Fran, a young cat girl, former slave, and trouble magnet who names him Teacher. It’s as odd a pairing as they come, and whether they’ll be sharp enough to make the cut in the realm of high adventure will be anyone’s guess!
The Review:
Audio:
The audio presentation for this release brings us the original Japanese language track in stereo along with the new English language dub, both of which are encoded using the DTS-HD MA lossless codec. The show has a pretty good mix to it for a stereo show as there are some good action elements with the magic and fight sequences that boost things up which adds some welcome directionality to it. We do get that in some of the more physical elements as well with the fighting and that helps to give it all more impact. The dialogue side is fairly straightforward but it handles the highs and lows very well and there’s some placement in a few areas as well, though that’s not as big a deal here overall. Dialogue is clean and clear throughout and we didn’t have any problems with dropouts or distortions during regular playback.
Video:
Originally airing in 2022, the transfer for this TV series is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.78:1 in 1080p using the AVC codec. The twelve episodes are spread across two discs with nine on the first and three on the second. Animated by C2C, the show has a pretty good amount of detail to it in both characters and backgrounds to give it a good lived-in fantasy world feeling. The main cast has some good presence about them during the series and combined with a strong color palette that’s rich and warm, the end result is a show that has a definitive look but isn’t trying to be radically out there. The character designs are great, the settings are spot on, and the encoding captures that and the color quality very well with no breakup or noise throughout.
Packaging:
The packaging for this release comes in a standard-sized Blu-ray case with both discs held against the walls with no hinges involved. The front cover goes with the familiar key visual that plays to the fantasy side of things well, the absurdity of the size of the sword, but also the fanservice and lead-in-danger kind of thing that ticks a certain box or two, especially with the torn outfit. It’s a decent piece and one we’ve seen for a couple of years now so it’s functional and appropriate. The back cover has a nice action shot along the top that’s bright while just below it we get the summary of the premise in a clear and easy-to-read way. It may be a bit more detailed than it needs to be to hook people in but it delivers enough to draw you to it. There are a few nice shots from the show while the rest of the cover breaks out the production credits and technical grid. No show-related inserts are included nor is there a reversible cover.
Extras:
The only extras included with this release are the clean versions of the opening and closing sequences as well as some of the Japanese promotional videos.
Based on the light novel series Tensei Shitara Ken Deshita, Reincarnated as a Sword is a twelve-episode first season that landed in the fall of 2022. The original light novel series from Yuu Tanaka, released in English through Seven Seas Entertainment, began in 2016 in print form and has fifteen volumes as of this writing and is still ongoing. It’s also had a couple of manga spinoffs that have gone well with the main one ongoing at thirteen volumes. There’s a certain kind of base popularity to this genre and the titles that do it well or with enough of a hook to draw you back can definitely succeed well. So it’s no surprise that this show got an anime – directed by Shinji Ishihira – and that a second season has gotten the green light as well. That makes Sentai’s release of interest to a lot of people and they even have a premium edition coming out later for those that want to go all-in on the goodies.
The concept for this isn’t unfamiliar in fantasy – I’m reading a few American comics that are playing with this idea – as we get our lead character being reincarnated as a sword. Thankfully, the opening just throws us right into a black-and-white death of our lead in his normal world before waking up as a sword in a stone with a voice telling him good luck. The sword has no memory of his name but knows plenty of other things from his past life, making it easy for a self-insert feeling. The well-designed sword also is able to view things in a kind of basic videogame feeling with information and details about the things he comes across, such as the goblins that try to claim him when he first awakens in this world. What’s fun is that he’s able to use skills himself to be able to defend and attack against the goblins, though there are obviously limits and the like as well so that he’s not just this free-floating all-powerful sword.
The sword manages to do his own thing for a while, which is what a decent chunk of the first episode is all about, as he takes out goblins and gains a bit more powering up and experience that increases his skills. He’s doing all of this for his own fun and enjoyment but also knowledge that he can be something more with the right wielder. He has a good run until he ends up in a place where he’s basically zeroed out with his magical ability and is just a useless hunk of metal on the ground. What he lucks into is the arrival of Fran, a young catgirl that discovers him and is able to utilize everything that Sword has learned by wielding him, making her a pretty intense fighter with a lot of skills. It’s a relationship that works well as Fran wants to do the right things in the world and help others as just before this she was part of a group that a slave trader was taking to an auction. The two end up together through a bit of luck and coincidence, and overconfidence of Sword as well as he just kept going for bigger and more powerful opponents.
The slavery aspect of the show is something that a lot of fantasy shows do and it’s never really dealt with well and even when it is, well, you almost wish they hadn’t gone that route because they still don’t handle it well.
Once Fran and Sword basically figure out how to work together, we get her naming him as Teacher as that’s how she views him and it helps that he largely talks to her telepathically in order to obscure some of his value to others and to protect her in a way. There’s the general amusement of her diminutive frame and that giant sword, especially with its hilt being as designed as it is, but Fran brings a good bit to the table as well. She’s seen some real tragedy and violence in her life and is still trying to do the best she can instead of solely looking out for herself. When the caravan she was part of was attacked she worked to protect others when they all rain away. And getting the power that Teacher contains is something that feels like it’s being portrayed as just because they’re both presented as good people, relatively speaking.
The show does a lot of pretty standard stuff as the two begin to live their lives as it’s kind of adventuring but not in a way as Fran is intent on helping others. It’s not like they’re looking for glory and treasure and Teacher is pretty well bonded to Fran for what she did in helping him after months of being stuck in the ground. There are a lot of standard isekai conventions being used here that might frustrate some but if you’re not watching too many of them then it might not feel so blatant or familiar. The main problem that I think many will have is that Fran herself doesn’t have too much going on for her here and my looking through at other sources indicates that the light novels are naturally able to detail more of Fran’s past that makes her a more engaging character. But this is part and parcel of adapting directly a light novel instead of reorganizing from the volumes to put into the anime things that will provide a better flow to the larger story.
The fantasy elements are fun and I can see people enjoying the worldbuilding that we get here and some of the more interesting creative aspects, especially since there’s a lot of focus on goblins early on. The time in dungeons we do get and the nods toward the bigger adventurers that exist out there is what serves as inspiration for Fran to try and take this route. Again, I see her doing this more for doing the right thing and helping others instead of just personal gain and that just feels different enough for me. Having her work early to join the guild and pass some tests is interesting because she hides what Teacher really is and doing so in a way to protect her and their secret. It’s fun and amusing enough but it’s also something that just makes her so powerful in the big picture sense of things that you can see how there aren’t going to be any real challenges for a while and whatever does come is just going to be solving how to get past it since Teacher acquired so many skills since his arrival.
As someone who enjoys fantasy shows in general, there’s certainly a lot to like here in that regard. We get some decent creatures that the pair have to deal with, and other adventurers as well, and I definitely like that we get a lot of different species that operate throughout the world so that it’s not just a human-centered story. I can imagine that the light novels detail things more than the anime does in terms of historical nods and the like to help expand the worldbuilding, but what we get here is pretty solid. It’s easy to get the basics and to see how the various cast configurations work. The guild stuff helps to provide some basic rules for everyone to live by but the less time spent with the guild side was the better for me. The secretive relationship between Fran and Teacher is a lot of fun as well since he’s rightly concerned about what will happen if someone figures out the truth of him and that she has no real talent without him.
In Summary:
Reincarnated as a Sword is the kind of isekai show that I can see being fairly divisive among viewers depending on what you’re looking for – or not wanting to see. I’ve limited my isekai intake for a while so this is familiar but not something I’ve seen a million times in the last couple of years. I like the look of the sword as it reminds me of Kyo Kara Maoh but I can also see why it annoys other people. The series has its charms to be sure and even though I want to get a lot more about Fran, I’m also enjoying watching her grow. And it helps that, to me, Teacher is fairly amusing both in small doses and in watching multiple episodes in a row. They’re a character that can definitely make or break a show but I think they mostly get it to work. The release is one that’s pretty standard overall with extras and the like, but we get a solid dub with it Ty Mahany nails a great version of Teacher – and the encoding makes it look better than streaming does. It’s an easy pickup for fans if you just want the show and not the planned premium edition that we’re waiting on details for.
Features:
Japanese DTS-HD MA 2.0 Language, English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Language, English Subtitles, Japanese Promos, Clean Opening, Clean Closing
Content Grade: B
Audio Grade: B+
Video Grade: B+
Packaging Grade: B
Menu Grade: B
Extras Grade: B-
Released By: Sentai Filmworks
Release Date: August 22nd, 2013
MSRP: $69.98
Running Time: 300 Minutes
Video Encoding: 1080p AVC
Aspect Ratio: 1.78;1 Widescreen
Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Sony PlayStation3 Blu-ray player via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
